British Prime Minister Boris Johnson won a confidence vote "handsomely" on Monday and it is time to draw a line under questions on his future, education minister Nadhim Zahawi said in the first reaction from the government to the vote.
Johnson won the vote 211 to 148, securing the support of 59 percent of his lawmakers, a lower share than his predecessor Theresa May managed in a 2018 confidence vote. She resigned less than six months later.
"The Prime Minister won handsomely. I think the important thing to remember is that we only are able to deliver if we are united. I hope we can draw a line under this now and focus on delivery," Zahawi told Sky News.
Johnson said on Monday that his victory in the confidence vote was a convincing and decisive win that would enable the country to move on.
"I think it's a convincing result, a decisive result and what it means is that as a government we can move on and focus on the stuff that I think really matters to people," he told reporters.
"We can focus on what we're doing to help people with the cost of living, what we're doing to clear the COVID backlogs, what we're doing to make streets and communities safer by putting more police out," he said.
"It gives us the opportunity to continue to unite, to level up, and to strengthen our economy."
He also said he was not interested in holding a snap national election, which some had suggested may be his next move to attempt to reassert his authority.
"I'm certainly not interested in snap elections, what I'm interested in is delivering right now for the people of this country," he said.
Reuters.
